Saturday, March 22, 2014

Where the mind is without fear

Following is a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, which to me in the same class as "Invictus", "Man in the arena", "IF" or "Desiderata (Desired Things)". (If you have not read those, check them out also). It is amazing how close does he it into ideals of "free society" and ideas like opensource. I love the part "Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit".

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held highWhere knowledge is freeWhere the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic wallsWhere words come out from the depth of truthWhere tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfectionWhere the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habitWhere the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and actionInto that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.